Page:Prometheus Bound, and other poems.djvu/183

177 Show their full length in graves, or even indeed Exaggerate their stature, in the flat, To noble admirations which exceed Nobly, nor sin in such excess. For that Is wise and righteous. We, who are the seed Of buried creatures, if we turned and spate Upon our antecedents, we were vile. Bring violets rather! If these had not walked Their furlong, could we hope to walk our mile? Therefore bring violets! Yet if we, self-baulked, Stand still a-strewing violets all the while, These had as well not moved, ourselves not talked Of these. So rise up with a cheerful smile, And, having strewn the violets, reap the corn, And, having reaped and garnered, bring the plough And draw new furrows 'neath the healthy morn, And plant the great Hereafter in this Now.

Of old 'twas so. How step by step was worn, As each man gained on each, securely!—how Each by his own strength sought his own ideal, The ultimate Perfection leaning bright From out the sun and stars, to bless the leal And earnest search of all for Fair and Right, Through the dim forms, by earth accounted real! Because old Jubal blew into delight The souls of men, with dear-piped melodies, What if young Asaph were content at most To draw from Jubal's grave, with listening eyes, Traditionary music's floating ghost Into the grass-grown silence? were it wise? Is it not wiser, Jubal's breath being lost,